IPL 2019: Focus on Kohli’s captaincy and workload as RCB begin another season with title hopes

They are top-heavy, they are too dependent on Virat Kohli, they spend indiscriminately like their previous owner Vijay Mallaya, they party too much. Some of that is true. Some isn’t. But ultimately it all boils down to one thing – they still haven’t won a title.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore is very much Kohli’s team. He has been with them from the start – a one-team player in an era when many players haven’t been afraid to look for greener pastures. But their inability to win a title must perhaps rankle him the most.

They have come close, yes – three runners-up titles are proof of that. But so often, in the last five years, they have got it wrong. They finished runners-up as recently as 2016, when their middle-order failed to follow up a solid opening partnership in the final but their other season finishes have been disappointing for fans – 7th in 2014, 8th in 2015, 8th in 2017, 6th in 2018.

Heading into the season, there is a debate around Kohli’s captaincy. Gautam Gambhir felt the Indian captain is lucky to have received a long rope from the franchise despite not delivering a title while Kohli himself brushed that notion aside on Friday. All said and done, Kohli’s leadership skills will be under as much focus as his batting because that’s the nature of the beast. Whichever side one is on with that debate, there is no argument over the fact this is a monkey Kohli would like to get off his back.

In 2018, Kohli was good [530 runs at 48.18], AB de Villiers was good [480 runs at an average of 53.33 with a strike-rate of 174.54], Umesh Yadav was good [20 wickets at 20.90]. Not much else slid into place as RCB had yet another poor season. This year, with one eye on the ODI World Cup, what kind of game will we see from the Bengaluru side?

History

The big changes for 2019

RCB bought nine players in the auction but can anyone of them actually solve their perennial problem: who can give Kohli and de Villiers the support they need?

West Indian Shimron Hetmyer, who shone in ODIs against India last year and had a remarkable Caribbean Premier League campaign, and big-hitting all-rounder Shivam Dube, still untested at the IPL, were bought at a combined cost of INR. 9.2 crore in the hope that they can do precisely that. But their batting still lacks depth and a comfort factor.

There is the odd case of Akshdeep Nath, the 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who was bought for Rs 3.6 crore in the auction. His T20 strike-rate in domestic cricket is 119.25 and his bowling hasn’t exactly set the charts on fire either. So what prompted RCB to splurge on him? Maybe, they have a secret strategy that no one else has had for the player.

Marcus Stoinis has been continually improving as a player and his performances in international cricket are bound to give him a boost in the IPL season too. Kohli even earmarked him as the player to watch out for before the recent Australia series.

The bowling, on the other hand, has a familiar feel to it. Umesh, Yuzvendra Chahal will be the spearheads but it will be interesting to see the kind of performance Mohammed Siraj puts in.

The absence of clear role players is what might hurt RCB the most. They have the specialist batsmen and bowlers but there is a huge void in the middle that one isn’t sure how they will fill or whether they can fill it at all.

Kohli, however, is banking on the domestic talent to come good this time around. “Not many people are aware of the strengths of some of the Indian guys we possess in our team. And that’s one area we want to focus on. In the past, the focus was always been on getting strong overseas players,” he said.

Indian players under World Cup radar

There is just Kohli and Chahal among the regulars. Umesh Yadav might still be in contention for the fourth seamer’s slot or at least he must believe he is.

The key with Kohli is going to be workload management. Can he rest in a team, a professional team, that really can’t do without him? If one takes Kohli out of this team, it looks like they will struggle. So how and why would the owners of the team let him rest?

“I don’t believe in playing 75-80%. That’s the mindset I carry. I am sure the guys are going to be smart about it,” Kohli said on Friday, adding it’s a big possibility that he will be skip a game if he is feeling not fully fit.

Chahal, on the other hand, needs to get going again. He has always been a smart bowler but the key for him will be to show improvement in his fielding and, possibly, batting. Right now, it seems like he is facing stiff competition in the Indian team because of his one-dimensionality means that the national side ends up with a longish tail.

Chahal still has the edge because of his wicket-taking ability but this will be another chance for him to show what he is all about and quash whatever doubts the selectors might harbour. Of late, he has been attacked and he hasn’t quite been able to cope with that. He played just one game against Australia and was taken for 80 runs in his 10 overs as the visitors chased down 358 to win.

Similarly, after his performance in the IPL last season, Yadav seemed to have moved ahead of Mohammed Shami in the limited overs again but he didn’t quite manage to cut it at the international level since. Shami, though, has made the most of his opportunity and virtually sealed a spot for himself as one of the pacers for India. This will perhaps be a chance for Yadav to get the captain and the selectors to take notice of him again.

RCB squad for 2019

Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kulwant Khejroliya, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Shivam Dube, Heinrich Klassen, Gurkeerat Singh, Himmat Singh, Prayas Ray Barman, Mandeep Singh